Unexpected revenue helps Santa Rosa school district

For the past two years, the Santa Rosa County School District has kept a dangerously tight budget, but district officials say that's slowly starting to change.

Susan McCole, the assistant superintendent for finance, is predicting the school district will have about 3 percent or more of its budget left over after all expenditures are paid and all revenues accounted for after two unexpected windfalls.

The district had less than 3 percent left over the past two years.

Last month, the district received an additional $1.1 million in tax revenue and an $800,000 refund from Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which provides insurance for district employees, that helped the district reach the 3-percent mark.

That's good news for the district, which relies on additional funds in case of severe weather and other unforeseen circumstances and emergencies.

"It was looking bleak at the beginning of last (school) year," McCole said. "But it's slowly turning around. This past year and last year, we made a lot of cuts and held tight on staffing and everything.

"Our funding is going to be better this year, but we're still not out of the woods."

The district was expecting to receive about 96 percent of the property taxes assessed in the county, but instead received about 99 percent. The district got the refund from Blue Cross because of a reduced number in claims.

"These were unexpected windfalls," Santa Rosa Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick said. "Being above 3 percent, that is just a burden lifted, but it's not the end of the road."

Though the school district's budget is expected to be healthier this year, the Florida Department of Education is looking for Santa Rosa to make more gains.

"The state would prefer us to have between 5 and 7 percent left over in our budget," Wyrosdick said. "But I love the direction we're traveling, which is a result of good solid fiscal policies. And those unexpected windfalls really do make a difference."

To put Santa Rosa's financial condition in perspective, McCole said that years ago the district traditionally had about $20 million left over in its budget.

McCole didn't want to comment on the dollar amount that would be left over this year until the budget is finalized, but said that it's well below $20 million.

And a major hurricane or other severe weather event could put the district back into a shaky financial state, McCole said.

"If a major hurricane were to hit, that's what concerns me," McCole said. "Anytime you have a major occurrence like that, that's what's scary."

When Hurricane Ivan hit the area in 2004, the school district had to spend about $6 million to get schools up and running after the storm.

"Any of those major events costs dollars," Wyrosdick said of severe storms. "We want to have enough savings to address those."

By the numbers

A look at revenue of the Santa Rosa County School District over three years.